1. Technical Field
A substitute for a conventional light bulb is disclosed which provides various combinations of features including, but not limited to, the emission of white light, colored light in the form of changing colored light shows and active ingredient vapor emission. The disclosed device screws into a conventional light socket and the active ingredient is dispensed from replaceable cartridges or bottles. The device may also serve as an adapter for receiving a conventional light bulb. The specific active ingredient emitted may be coordinated with the specific light show performed. A plurality of light shows may be programmed into the memory of the device and memory chips containing new light shows may be provided or the active ingredient cartridges may be equipped with a chip containing one or more light shows that are designed with the active ingredient in mind. The colored light may be produced by RGB LED clusters or filtered white light sources using conventional colored lenses, shrouds or covers or an LCD filter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Creating a pleasant ambience is a popular aspect of home decor. This is often achieved through various combinations of pleasant fragrances and mood lighting. Lighting can also be combined with other functions such as air sanitization, air deodorization, and the controlled release of insect repellent, insect attractant and insecticide. Conventional products such as scented candles, mood lighting devices, fragrance dispensers, and the like, are commonly used to create a pleasant environment in the home. While those conventional products help to create a pleasant living environment and ambiance, they have their drawbacks.
For example, while scented candles create soft light and fragrance, which creates a pleasant mood, candles are a potential fire hazard and often produce unwanted smoke and wax drippings. Traditional light fixtures and lamps do not provide the color effects, fragrance emission or other active emission that users often desire. While stand-alone aesthetic devices are available for providing lighting effects (such as color changing and the like), these standalone devices take up space around the home and add to the clutter that many consumers are trying to avoid. Also, because such stand-alone devices are typically placed in highly visible locations, they need to be aesthetically designed to suit the personal tastes of different categories of buyers, requiring additional design costs.
Conventional fragrance dispensers, such as plug-in diffusers, can provide pleasing aromas in a relatively inexpensive, compact package. However, such conventional fragrance dispensers generally take up outlets and are often located out of sight, causing a user to forget to adjust or refill the device. While these fragrance dispensers may also provide light, because the devices are used in existing electrical outlets, they are generally positioned too low to provide effective lighting features, other than to operate as a nightlight.
Conventional nightlights include only white light emission in combination with fragrance emission. While a single scent may be provided in the form of a decorative diffuser, colored nightlights are not generally available and there is no coordination between the light color emitted and the particular fragrance emitted. Further, sophisticated multi-colored lights that change color and that are aesthetically pleasing in combination with fragrance emission are not currently available.
Further, numerous needs exist for the combination of white light and/or colored light with other volatile active emission other than fragrances such as air sanitization, air deodorization, the controlled release of insect repellent insect attractant, insecticide, aromatherapy volatiles or other non-flagrant materials (any of which may be combined with flagrant materials if necessary to make the ambient environment more tolerable).
Therefore, multiple needs exist for devices that combine one or more of the following functions: white light emission; colored light emission; colored light shows; fragrance emission; air sanitization; air deodorization; insecticide emission; insect repellent emission; aromatherapy material emission; light emission that repels insects; light emission that attracts insects; and any combinations thereof.